I feel I have an absolute privilege when people ask me to be involved with writing resources. I get to work with creative people like William Rudling and the Ethiopian artist whose work is shown here. I also get to help people express their wonderful ideas. There is very little original in what I do, I simply listen and help others express their ideas. I am so lucky

I learned about FIFA’s fickle flower policy when I was in Tanzania. They rejected the African grass in the National Stadium in Dar and requested European type grass that needs excessive care, water, chemicals etc. I was in the Amhara region stadium today in Bahir Dar and it seemed the same thing was happening until I saw 10 women with large hats carefully weeding the clover and flowering grass from the pitch!! That Football can’t cope with flowers says everything!!

I was amazed at the very generous exchange rate I got from M and S as an account holder there. I also get a free birthday tea … nice. Anyway the wonderful exchange rate enabled me to buy some shirts for the Kebele coordinators here thanks also to the great deals at the Adidas shop at Cheshire Oaks. Here are some of the coordinators wearing the shirts.

I will try to create a soundscape for you. First of all imagine the time of day, 5:45 am and it is dark, the darkness you get when electricity is not wasted lighting deserted streets. There is a sliver of moon and the stars are there, but in a strange orientation for a person from the UK, so the plough is on its side and orions belt looks casually worn to one side! Then imagine about 80 Ethiopians in a school playground, on each side of a square there are 2-3 rows of about 8-12 people. Then the sound starts: “and; hulet; sost; arat”. Say it gently to yourself and you are counting to four in Amharic: “and; hulet; sost; arat” … “and; hulet; sost; arat”. Now imagine the soft rubber sound of shoes perfectly in rhythm, and then, in staccato syncopated form, the urging sounds from the self-declared leaders in the group “heh; heh; heh” exactly between the beats, perfectly punctuating the silent space between the counting. If you then imagine bodies moving sideways or forwards you should have a perfect image of the keep fit class I am lucky to attend while I am here.

I run home imagining I am Abebe Bikele or Haile Gabriel Selaiise!!

Yesterday I attended a conference on Leprosy and was profoundly impressed. The speakers were very moving and the cross-section in the audience is something rarely experienced in the UK. At the end we lit candles to show that we had been enlightened by those with leprosy in Africa. I realised my own experience of leprosy was biblical!! It can now be cured with antibiotics and even the effects of hard skin lesions on faces can be eradicated.

Today I attended a mourning of a close relative of one of the project. To hear the sound of women totally distressed by the loss and able to express it moved me to tears. I wonder if we are moving further and further away from humanity in the west? We have so much to learn from Africa.

In the books concerning Africa I have read, many authors describe the smell and feel that greets them, as they walk down the steps of the plane, as a unique welcome.
For me it is the unmistakable sound of an old Toyota Land Cruiser The sound of the engine is a combination of a wave on a gravelly beach; a herd of donkeys running over a wooden bridge, and the encompassing sound of a wind as it passes you by. I experienced it first in 1974, and now 42 years later it has the same effect … welcome to the continent of great journeys, and inevitably a driver who will become a great friend.

We have been exploring how to make equipment, and the coordinators in Bahir Dar are experts at making balls. These photos show Birtukan making a ball out of newspaper and a vest!
The newspaper is scrunched up tightly and then the vest wrapped tightly round them with a final few stitches to hold it together.

I sometimes wonder what it is about planning that makes it so difficult. Perhaps it is the variables involved … and sure enough when I looked up the etymology of variable then the word fickle reared its head. Perhaps we don’t really believe in planning because we know the variables are fickle … like the weather …changeable.
When we are planning with others the “what ifs” are soon multiplied. If I have 10 “what ifs” and am working with 10 others with “what ifs” that’s already 110 “what ifs”. I wonder how many “what ifs” are unmanageable?
Yet planning can begin to control the “what ifs” and if in seeking answers to the “what ifs” we engage in constructive conversations to find solutions or at least attempts at solutions, then the process of planning becomes highly informative and developmental.
There is also a certain arrogance about planning that some people find difficult. The author of the plan has to suggest work for others to do; timescales for others to keep; performance indicators by which others may be judged. Yet … if this is a cooperative process, others can begin to have genuine input and thus jointly own the plan.

I wonder whether the real struggle with planning is that it is absent from our amygdala!! Are we still better at instantaneous reactions to hunger and the need for survival as well as other basic needs? Is this more comfortable for us? An essential part of being human is the ability to be instantaneous. This is absolutely demonstrated every time someone jumps in a car and contributes to global warming. The instant satisfaction of instant travel with the amygdala in control avoiding accidents as we text and speak at the wheel with barely any consideration of the long term effects on the planet or even the driver in front of us!!

We need planning to truly work together, and we now have to work together in everything we do. Here in Bahir Dar the planning the Cheshire Foundation has done will make a genuine planned difference to the lives of many disabled people, Now that’s cooperation!!

Going fishing for table tennis nets

Part of my role during this trip is to investigate how we can make improvised equipment here in Ethiopia. As with all these things the most effective way is to use local materials and techniques. Kasanish is the coordinator in Kebele 2, and she has made table tennis nets, using the same methods used to make fishing nets. Here she is at work, with a progressing net, and here is a prototype card to help others make similar nets.

After Ken Blacks Master training here in October, the University have made great progress. A course was held over 4 Saturdays, with 5 hours each day. Students learned and practiced the principles of Inclusion. The University decided to offer it as an extra-curricular course, and 51 students attended.

I interviewed 6 of the students and they were very impressive. They had greatly enjoyed the content, finding the inclusive focus quite new. They all expressed the opinion that they would now welcome the opportunity to include disabled students in PE lessons. All 51 will soon be placed in schools around Ethiopia, and so the influence of the work will soon be felt.

The University also has a budget for community outreach, and as part of that they are going to offer the training to local high school teachers.